Birds aim to start season rebuild today in Buffalo
PHILADELPHIA >> The Eagles know they have time to dig themselves out of the mess they’ve created this season starting Sunday against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Stadium (1 p.m., Fox-29 TV, WIP 94.1-FM Radio).
The Birds have lost two in a row, leaving them 3-4 and trailing the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys by a game. The problem is they’re just not good enough right now to flip the switch and change the poor habits and preparation they’ve grown comfortable with during the first seven weeks of the season.
Carson Wentz inferred that in the days leading up to a verbal rip job by recently cut Eagle Orlando Scandrick, who said the Eagles were living in their Super Bowl past. Wentz literally waved his hands in the air this past week when asked if the rally the team made to dig out of a similar slump and reach the playoffs last year gives them the confidence to dig out of this year’s miserable start.
“Every year is different,” Wentz replied. “Everyone always wants to go back, like, what about 2017? It’s a new team. it’s a new kind of everything. But we still have a lot of core people.”
The quarterback during the 2018 run was Nick Foles, who also was the Super Bowl MVP of the previous season. It’s purely speculative to think if Foles was the quarterback now whether the Eagles would turn it around.
Wentz is a totally different player than Foles. For example, there were zero complaints citing anonymous sources about the way Foles spread the ball around during his most recent tour with the Eagles. Just the fact that Wentz spent time last week addressing concerns of teammates while telling the media those discussions would stay in-house tells you there was some type of disconnect.
The bottom line is the Eagles need a win this week as badly as
Summary: The Eagles (3-4) have beaten three teams with a combined record of
8-13(.381). The Bills (5-1) have beaten five teams with a collective record of 6-21
(.222). Carson Wentz is pretty good at defeating bad quarterbacks. Just don’t see the Eagles’ depleted front seven stopping the run.
The pick: Make it, Bills 21, Eagles 20.
— Bob Grotz
Fletcher Cox needs a new front door. And oh, by the way, the big defensive tackle needs to show his teammates he’s past the “attempted burglary” of his home by a Delco guy who allegedly threw rocks through the door.
That distraction preceded Scandrick’s veiled shots at veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins, who has been playing like he’ll be 32 in a couple of months. Jenkins vehemently – and not so eloquently – denied accusations that he hadn’t made himself accountable for mistakes.
Jenkins also told media covering the team that he and his teammates have to remind themselves that they shouldn’t take seriously the stories written about them and their struggles.
“It’s Philadelphia,” Jenkins said. “Honestly not everyone is built for it. Being in this market, obviously you guys love to write stories when things are on fire. If we lose a game, the house is burning down. So, for us here, we’ve just got to ignore all that and not allow that to creep into this building because at the end of the day, you guys never strap up and go play a game. We do.”
On paper the Eagles should be able to get after the Bills (5-1), who have beaten a lot of ordinary competition. Then again, the only solid victory on the Eagles’ resume was a month ago in Green Bay. They’re
1-2 since that moment. And they’re also fresh out of defensive tackles.
With Hassan Ridgeway done for the season due to a foot injury, the Eagles signed defensive tackles Anthony Rush (6-3, 350, UAB) and Albert Huggins (6-3, 305, Clemson) off practice squads. They’ll make their NFL debuts in Buffalo against
36-year-old running back Frank Gore, whose ability to run between the tackles likely will earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame.
The game is a gut-check for the Eagles and their veteran leadership. Particularly for defensive end Brandon Graham, who leads the club with four sacks yet is still sickened by back-to-back blowout defeats, most recently the 37-10 surrender to the Dallas Cowboys.
“We’re 3-4, the Cowboys are
4-3,” Graham said. “They’re No.
1 in our division. We’re down 1½ games. if we win two and they lose two, we’re back in first place. We’ve got nine games left, right? We see the Cowboys again, right? It’s one of those things where I’m not worried about what the record is now. We can fix some things on how we lost. We’re going to go out there Sunday and put up a better fight than we did last week, for sure. We’ve got to put our name on that. We have to live with it. But we’ve got nine opportunities to change the narrative on what we put out there last week.”
Another setback is the last thing the Eagles need as they go into a three-game homestand that includes their bye. A 3-5 start easily could snowball into a rebuilding project as the Chicago Bears, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks play at the Linc in succession.
“The main thing right now is to get a win,” Cox said. “If you get a win, nothing else matters. Everyone shuts up. Nobody is talking. I think that’s what’s going to cure everything. Get a win and nobody’s talking. Nobody is saying this and nobody is saying that. It’s always been that way around here. We’ve just got to fix it.”
Said Wentz, “The sky isn’t falling. We have a lot of confidence in here. And like I said we’re going to go out Sunday and make it happen.”